secateurs

American  

[sek-uh-ter, -tur] / ˈsɛk ə tər, -ˌtɜr /

noun

(used with a singular or plural verb)

1. scissors or shears, especially pruning shears.

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secateurs British  

/ ˈsɛkətəz, ˌsɛkəˈtɜːz /

plural noun

1. a small pair of shears for pruning, having a pair of pivoted handles, sprung so that they are normally open, and usually a single cutting blade that closes against a flat surface

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Etymology

Origin of secateurs

1880–85; < French < Latin sec ( āre ) to cut ( see secant) + French -ateurs (plural) < Latin -ātor -ator

Example Sentences

If Serena wanted to commune with nature, she thought, she might as well take the secateurs with her and achieve something.

From The New Yorker • Oct. 21, 2019

Favorite tool: Corona classic hand pruners, which Huston calls by their British name: secateurs.

From Los Angeles Times • May 31, 2019

Benzakein’s popularity, and the growing obsession with picking up the spade or the secateurs, taps into what Ryhanen sees as a deep longing for a connection to the natural world.

From New York Times • Mar. 20, 2017

The morning of the abduction, Mrs. Allsop—dishevelled in a limp linen shirtdress—was wielding her secateurs up a ladder, pruning the climbing roses.

From The New Yorker • Jul. 2, 2012

She led them to a plant—stunted by the secateurs, yet vigorous—which showed, with three or four buds as yet closed and green, one solitary bloom, pure white and of incomparable shape.

From Hocken and Hunken by Quiller-Couch, Arthur Thomas, Sir